Fuel distributor for diesel engines



April 17, 1956 R. L. GRAY ETAL 2,742,050

FUEL DISTRIBUTOR FOR DIESEL ENGINES Filed Aug. 18, 1952 3 Sheets-Sheet l I N V EN TORS Russell L. @rat By Lz nfi H Lassa/ell April 1956 R, L. GRAY E IAL 2,742,050

FUEL DISTRIBUTOR FOR DIESEL ENGINES Filed Aug. 18, 1952 s Sheets-Sheet 2 .57 5'0 19 I 20 25 a I 22 I 326 52 l 1 I I -|l II I 1H IENTORS Zane/Z L4 raz y Zym'z H Lassa/ell fit/464 Atty.

April 17, 1956 R. L. GRAY ETAL 2,742,050

FUEL DISTRIBUTOR FOR DIESEL ENGINES Filed Aug. 18, 1952 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 IN V EN TORJ Russell L. Cray y Zz mz H Lama/ell Atty.

fuel at the required pressure.

2,742,050 I i UE DI IRIBUTOR OR DIESEL R sse L: G a hi i s e, and 'L hh H, assw l,

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Specifically it is the purpose of our igventipnto provide a simple distributor which is operated from themgine and which has individual conn'e ons to the several engine cylinders, the distributor gdying balanced spool shaped rotor which is coupled to the driving mechanism from the engine so as to agiyanee with respect to the drive mechanism upon increased speed of the engine,

the rotor being confined between two bearing plates, one of which has the necessary apertures leading to the conduits to the injection nozzles of the engine, and the rotor being surrounded by a cylinder between the plates to provide a reservoir to which the pump may supply Our invention embodies means to distribute the fuel oil to both end faces of the rotor so that the rotor runs in the fuel oil and the bearing faces at the ends of the rotor serve to seal the fuel oil from the distributor outlets except when the 2 w th s s isssd with rsshsst s an o e to pa its i is ii ss i his the hhiisi' shh th rsss v he a hs is advanta e f our e on ll appea h sis hil y has; th isiihwihg is s s and the h sh i ah hs sir wi It shhh s he nde s o h wsy r, tha he d a hss and, es rip on ar ll s ra v shl and a st ihtsh isti t limit t e in tio e pt insofar as it is limited by the claims h he hiawihgs igur l is a sh hswhat is aih ha is v w n s de @1 Yst Qh s s i s l h ihs t w ish 9 r h h sh s a p ied; Fi u e 2 i an n ar ed v rt cal sss hhs ie r h the siist hhts shi hh ti ih 9h inv n i n;

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i u e 4 is a sss isn i yisw tsksn a th line -4 h u e 2;

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Fi hts his a e ssti s View of t ro o hf o R9Y1 sisirihh this a t Figure 7 is a fragmentary sectional view taken on the this f Fiesta 2- Bsfsi s. 195 is he-draw n n F re 1 a d l e in it w th six l nders s d h ram si s Th's h s! shnhly is th shsihs is hrshsh a h h 9 t9 s ime isit!!! whish is'so ssnst us ti and r ed s? hah!!! ue hiis t t e P h r Pre sure th hh a yai s i is a siishih ithi ii it 12 s hhstiyih our nve tiss- The siistr hh sr sh t 12 is i s hy a shaft 3 rshi a a h m 14- Powsi is s pl ed s t e s a a i i b a hah 1.5 tha is s ivs i hhhi h s d e ha t of the h i an shi sh s h shhs e P se t ih h h ve sh'swh P m an h h ft. 1. hhih ommas sha t 6 tha i ou d b a belt .13"! s the stas shah 1. 9f he sh ih h i u r nh h hsiisi iistish a d the he! simp sh hs hs w the l sts? fshh ho. s r at ou ih sht sh- 0h ih htihh is sih hhieh ii e tiistiihhisr i ii 12. anti i s s h cct ohs ihti ss s i st 1 2 2 2 2 23 ahs 24 is the v ra s lihsisis 9f the en in t a. l aka e shhhssti 45 esh th sist'r hhtqr s it is the i shp lithe and t is! shPh y sshhsstihh hh h the push? s the dish sr unit. i

This Psrtisiilai shs hs ish sf the istrib t u i is shp h hss slsa b the h iai v ews 1h Fi s 2 s 7 ih The i st hhi t h t hhsd ss ohsi s 27 w ish. is an shspssi sai hish has a he rin le v tish h whi h th s sh ft is sxishtis- At th ts of t sha t a sshhifh aliy hhsia sti while-stin mecha i m 21's pr v be wee the shah is ash s 'si r s shm- .sshhs tss is a shah haft .31 sh the a er i1 The shhi hgai Oa sed m shhis n 2 s ihhhs s a hash sh hs Whis is hasietsishi ihshiiissi his the 13% W9 eighted a m A an s5 iiivhtss by hivst Pi s s hi 37, t9 the h s h i as shsi vista 18 s the s htiisr hish h i 0- The w hts sh. a si sfih ysthsh" iss hiis s hhsst e to th base member 33 by springs 39 and 40. The plate 38 has sis sst q 9fil ass 4.? ihsisih, is sivi s Pins 43 a 44 Oh e wei hts $3 shsi ss- Ihs shit 4.1 hh i 4% his o arranged that'as' the weights 34 and swing outward as shown in Figure 5 of the drawings, the plate 38 and the coupling member 30 will be rotated in a clockwise direction with respect to the base 33 and the shaft 13. The coupling member 30 and the plate 38 are rotatably mounted on the reduced extension 13a of the shaft 13.

The housing member 27 supports a lower plate 45 which has a bearing sleeve 46 for the rotor shaft 31. The plate 45 is removably supported on the housing 27 by a flange 47 that fits inside the housing 27 and is secured by screws 48. A spacing cylinder 49 and a top plate 50 are bolted to the plate 45 by bolts 51. Sealing gaskets 52 and 63 are employed to seal the joint between the cylinder 49 and the plates 45 and 50.

The plate 50 has fuel passages 19a, 20a, 21a, 22a, 23a, 24a, and 25a therethrough connecting with each of the conduits 1945 inclusive. The passages 19a to 24a at their inner ends are elongated circumferentially of the plate 50 as illustrated in Figure 3, in order that a fuel delivering passage 54 in the rotor 32 may remain in register with each passage long enough to supply the necessary charge of fuel.

The rotor 32 is spool shaped and has bearing faces 32a and 3212 hearing on the adjacent plates and respectively. The rotor has a passage opposite the passage 54 so that fuel oil entering through the conduit 26 into the reservoir between the upper and lower flanges of the rotor 32 will communicate with both bearing surfaces 32b and 32a. The rotor 32 is hollowed out at 56 at the top and at 57 at the bottom so that any leakage of the fuel oil inward from the passages 54 and 55 will flow into the depressions created at 56 and 57. A passage 58 through the rotor connects the depressions created at 56 and 57 and the passage 25a in the plate 50 conducts away any leakage fuel. The conduit 25 is connected to the inlet conduit 9 through a valve 59 shown on Figure l. r

The operation of our improved distributor is believed to be apparent from the foregoing description. The distributor unit will contain a supply of fuel oil at all times in the reservoir provided between the flanges of the rotor 32. The pump 10 pumps the fuel through the conduit 26 into this reservoir. When the rotor is turned by the shaft 13, the passage 54 will feed fuel successively to the passages 19a to 24a inclusive so as to supply the fuel under pressure to the several cylinders of the engine. The rotor 32 is balanced between the plates 45 and 50 since the fuel oil pressure is the same throughout the space around the rotor. Any leakage of fuel oil across the bearing faces 32a and 32b is trapped in the depressions 56 and 57 and will return to the pump inlet through the conduit 25. The rotor is thus free to rotate with a minimum amount of resistance. There is a fixed time delay between the opening of one of the passages 19a to 24a to the passage 54 and the actual ignition of the fuel oil in the combustion chamber of the engine. If the engine speeds up, the mechanism 29 will advance the rotor shaft 31 with respect to the drive shaft 13 to compensate for the effect of this time lag upon the increased speed.

The particular construction of our improved distributor unit is important in its operation. The engagement between the plates 45 and 50 and the rotor faces 32a and 3212 must be maintained. The constant pressure of the fuel oil tends to force the fuel oil between the plates and the rotor faces. rotor 32 are preferably hardened and polished to minimize wear on the rotor and to reduce friction. The plates 45 and 50 may have hardened surfaces too. The engaging faces of the plates and the rotor are flat surfaces and can be kept to a very close tolerance by simple flat grinding and polishing whenever they become worn. The entire construction is such that the distributor unit may be taken apart and repaired with a minimum of difficulty.

The end faces 32a and 32b of the The nature and advantages of our invention are believed to be clear from the foregoing description.

Having thus described our invention, we claim:

1. A fuel distributor for multiple cylinder engines comprising a spool-shaped rotor having a central annular channel, a cylinder surrounding said rotor, and cooperating therewith to form an annular fuel reservoir, end plates having flat parallel surfaces facing each other, bolts clamping said cylinder between the surfaces thereby closing the cylinder and positioning said surfaces to act as hearing faces for the ends of said rotor, the rotor having a drive shaft projecting from one end and the adjacent plate having a bearing for said shaft, the other plate having circumferentially spaced apertures therethrough equidistant from the axis of the rotor, conduits leading from said apertures, the rotor having a passage leading from said annular channel to each end face to carry fuel oil to the bearing faces of said plates, the rotor passage to the end plate having said apertures opening to said plate at the same distance from the rotor axis as said apertures so that when the rotor passage aligns with one of said apertures, fuel oil can flow through the passage and aperture into the conduit, and said cylinder having a fuel oil inlet to said channel, said rotor having depressions in the ends thereof spaced radially inward from the passages and an aperture'through the rotor connecting said depressions, one of said end plates having an aperture opening to one of said depressions and a conduit leading from said last named aperture for carrying away fuel oil collecting in said depressions.

2. A rotary fuel distributor for multiple cylinder engines comprising in combination a shell having a cylindrical interior, a spool shaped rotor in said shell and having end faces bearing on the inner faces of the ends of said housing and thereby providing with said housing an annular reservoir for holding a supply of liquid fuel, said rotor having a drive shaft projecting from one end through the housing and substantially sealed olf from the reservoir by the surrounding bearing surfaces of said rotor and the shell, the shell having fuel outlet apertures in the end opposite the first named end of the rotor, said apertures being equally spaced circumferentially about the axis of the cylindrical interior as a center, said apertures being substantially sealed off from the reservoir by the adjacent bearing surfaces of said rotor and the shell, the rotor having passages through the flanges spaced from the said axis the same distance as the fuel outlet apertures whereby to pass liquid fuel from the reservoir to the end faces of said rotor and to said apertures, the rotor having depressions in the ends thereof spaced inward from said passages for accumulating any leaking fuel, said rotor having a passage therethrough inwardly of the reservoir connecting said depressions and the shell having a central outlet aperture in the end having said first named apertures.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,030,604 Nilsen June 25, 1912 1,766,908 Kindl June 24, 1930 2,050,392 Starr Aug. 11, 1936 2,182,459 Vickers Dec. 5, 1939 2,223,590 Alden Dec. 3, 1940 2,483,949 Washington Oct. 4, 1949 FOREIGN PATENTS 402,502 Great Britain Dec. 7, 1933 

